Cripping Co-housing

Cripping Co-housing proposes a new model of housing for disabled people that responds to the UK's accessible housing crisis while creating space for disabled community, culture and care networks.

The project begins from a simple observation: housing is more than a technical question of accessibility. Home can also be a place of solidarity, belonging and collective care.

Developed in collaboration with disabled friends, activists and practitioners, the project centres lived experience as a form of design expertise. Rather than treating disability as a problem to be solved, it embraces disabled knowledge, culture and ways of living as generators of architecture.

The proposal responds to a severe shortage of accessible housing. Around 1.8 million people in the UK require accessible homes, yet only a small proportion of new housing is built to accessible standards. For many disabled people this means living in unsuitable homes, paying for expensive adaptations or facing limited housing choices.

Historically, proximity has been central to disability culture and activism. Communities formed in places such as Camp Jened in the United States and Stoke Mandeville in the UK became the foundations of the modern disability rights movement. While the independent living movement transformed disabled people's rights and autonomy, it also shifted housing towards increasingly individualised models. Cripping Co-housing asks what might be gained by reintroducing chosen forms of collective living that balance independence with interdependence.

The project is framed by the Affirmative Model of Disability and informed by the ten principles of Disability Justice, rejecting deficit narratives in favour of recognising disability as a cultural and political identity. Rather than designing solely for compliance with regulations, the proposal seeks to design for disabled experience.

Located in King's Cross, London, the scheme argues that disabled people should have the opportunity to live in the heart of the city rather than being displaced to the suburban margins. The site benefits from proximity to one of London's most accessible transport hubs while critically engaging with the surrounding King's Cross redevelopment and its privatised public realm.

The development provides 39 self-contained homes, supported living accommodation, shared living spaces, guest rooms and a publicly accessible community hub designed for everything from everyday socialising to political organising and cultural events. A gym, sauna, shared laundries and generous communal spaces support residents across different ages, impairments and support requirements.

Accessibility forms the baseline of the design, but adaptability is equally important. Every bathroom is accessible as standard, while kitchens and bathrooms are designed to change with residents' needs through adjustable worktops, removable cabinetry and adaptable fittings. The project rejects the idea of a single universal solution in favour of flexible environments shaped by individual preferences.

Fire safety is approached as a question of dignity and equality. Multiple evacuation lifts, generous refuge spaces, open stair cores designed for visual communication and resting places on every landing ramp challenge the assumption that disabled people should simply wait to be rescued during emergencies.

At its heart, Cripping Co-housing is less a proposal for one building than a new housing brief. It imagines housing that values disabled culture, collective care and access as everyday experiences rather than exceptional provisions. Again and again, disabled people have responded to the project with the same sentence: "I want to live there." That aspiration is the project's strongest argument.